Skater Lin Min
THE BEGINNING
I got to know Lin Min through a common friend- B- who is a sports photographer. In a sunny day of August 2023, B and I interviewed LM in a coffee shop besides the most famous skateboarding spot of Shanghai – Xu Hui Bin Jiang. Here is his story mostly in his words.
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THE STORY
In 2011, Lin Min used 5 months skateboarded around 4000km from Fuzhou (capital of Fujian, located in South China) to Lhasa (capital of Tibet, located in West China). One year later, he spent another 5 months skated another 4000km from Fuzhou to Mohe (located in North China). This September, he is about to embark on his third skateboarding trip from Lhasa to Kashgar ( an area in Southern XinJiang). This one will be around 3000km and cross the undeveloped oxygen-lacking highland A’Li.
WHY?
“I quitted my job in 2011 from a skateboard factory and was planning to open my own skateboard shop. Just wanted to take a break and chill. The original plan is hiking. But as a skateboard player, it feels weird to go without a board. What if I want to skate on the road? That is why I got a long board with me.”
“On the road, its more about skating and sensing the environment. Allow my senses to feel the nature. Empty the mind. Purely to sense and feel… To feel the sensation of the sunshine on the skin. To feel being chased and bitten by a group of mosquitos…”
HOW DID YOU CHOOSE DESTINATIONS
“ The atmosphere of the city is chaotic. I cannot feel what I feel on the road within a city. On the road, my atmosphere is changing.”
“Choosing Lhasa as the destination does not carry any special meaning. Meaning does not mean anything to me… I actually had no plan, I just did it at that time… I didn’t have any designation when I set off… It could be any place. Let what might happen happen naturally… My family urged me to go back. If I do not have a destination, it is impossible to go home. I might be on the road forever.”
“I decided to go to Mohe on the road to Tibet. It is to give myself an excuse to be on the road. If I have a dream, it might come true one day… I wanted to go to Kashgar when I came to La’Sa because it is not that far. But the equipment at that time was not enough to support me…”
“It does not matter where I go, it is what I feel on the road that matters.”
HOW DID YOU GET INTO SKATEBOARDING
“When I was five years old, my neighbor had an old fishboard. It was a toy board with a single shell and a brake block on the back. I didn’t know how to play with this thing at the time, so I just sat on it. Later, a sports store manager next to my house gave my brother a board. I slid down with it from the highest point of the mountain opposite my house and went directly through the toll gate. It is from my junior high school, I started to know what is skating.”
“I didn’t plan to become a professional skater. I just thought it was fun. I just wanted to challenge myself with new moves. For example, if I wanted to accomplish a new move but was set back by fears. I wanted to overcome that and breakthrough. That kind of sense of accomplishment is what I desire.”
“With time goes by and I get older, the body condition goes down. It is easier to get exhausted and my knees are troubled. My passion has not changed a bit. I still skateboard every day but won’t for very long hours… For now, it feels satisfying if I can still make a move.”
IS LONELINESS A SKATER’S DESTINY?
“Most skaters from my generation have quitted. Only one or two out of ten still skateboard… My first skateboard team had 27 members. Then, one day, I was the only one left. I moved to another group. It had 300-400 people. At the end, there was only five people left.”
“ (In 2011) I visited Kunming on my way to Tibet. There are many skateboard players there. Why so many people there continue playing? What makes the group so prosperous? I talked to Zhang Bofei and he said that they teach and guide beginners. They welcome them and treat them well. On contrast, we used to be cold with beginners. There are many things one could choose to play with. It doesn’t have to be skateboarding. It makes me realize that if we do not have a good system to bring people together, the skateboarding group will get weaker and weaker.”
“I have started to do skateboard training actually for the industry. It will keep people away from skateboarding if they cannot find where to learn and with whom to play with. With the training, more people will come to play together. They can teach others what they learn from me. This way it will be passed on. It is very good for this culture.”
“My skateboard shop sponsors two skaters. One girl and one boy. It is a tradition for the store to support players… It is more like being a mentor. How to plan their skateboarding career, what steps to take, when to do what. We tell them the options and they decide where to go.”
LAST WORDS
Lin Min’s skateboard brand is KARMA. This term firstly appears in Sanskrit and means case and effect cycle and reincarnation.
“Life is a cycle. You have nothing at the beginning and nothing at the end. I am not sure if there is reincarnation. Even if there is, it doesn’t matter. You will experience the birth, the aging, the sickness and the death in this life. Skateboarding is like a cycle to me. My life spins around it. The one I cannot get away from is it.”
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Follow Lin Min on Little Red Book Account: 9685198601
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